Overexpression of the Ginkgo biloba dihydroflavonol 4-reductase gene GbDFR6 results in the self-incompatibility-like phenotypes in transgenic tobacco

ABSTRACT

Although flavonoids play multiple roles in plant growth and development, the involvement in plant self-incompatibility (SI) have not been reported. In this research, the fertility of transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing the Ginkgo biloba dihydroflavonol 4-reductase gene, GbDFR6, were investigated. To explore the possible physiological defects leading to the failure of embryo development in transgenic tobacco plants, functions of pistils and pollen grains were examined. Transgenic pistils pollinated with pollen grains from another tobacco plants (either transgenic or wild-type), developed full of well-developed seeds. In contrast, in self-pollinated transgenic tobacco plants, pollen-tube growth was arrested in the upper part of the style, and small abnormal seeds developed without fertilization. Although the mechanism remains unclear, our research may provide a valuable method to create SI tobacco plants for breeding.

KEYWORDS:

• DFR
• flavonoids
• Ginkgo
• seed
• self-incompatibility
• tobacco

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Professor Yongbiao Xue at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for helpful suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2022.2163339

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [82274038], Ningbo Natural Science Foundation [202003N4016].